


Heart in Your Hands

by magicianlogician12



Series: Heart of Steel [10]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/F, undoubtedly one of my favorite things I've written for these two, wedding proposal fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 14:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6707443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianlogician12/pseuds/magicianlogician12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A very important question keeps Tabi awake at night. She can't wait until morning to go ask it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart in Your Hands

Tabi stared up at the ceiling in one of Sanctuary’s ruined homes, counting the number of stars she could see through the gaps in the roof. She’d long given up on sleep; after tossing and turning for what had to be over an hour, she’d rolled over onto her back and begun finding ways to keep herself occupied till morning.

In truth, she was lost in thought, though that was only one of the reasons she lay unable to sleep. The space next to her on this patchwork mattress was empty and cold, and she’d grown accustomed to Haylen’s presence.

In fact, that was the core of what kept her awake, tossing and turning.

Tabi would be the first to admit she was slow to form attachments and even slower to show that she trusted someone. Most people wouldn’t have been patient enough to wait. Haylen had surprised her, but in the best possible way–and Tabi had never been one for surprises.

She’d never thought she’d find anything worth hanging onto in this pale shadow of the world she’d left behind–not that she’d had much worth hanging onto in that world, either–and it made her think: what was an appropriate way to show that? She could drag Haylen out for any number of skyscraper picnics like the one a few weeks before, take on any number of missions for her, but those were _ordinary_  things, things Tabi would do no matter what.

_I want to marry her._

The thought came out of nowhere, and Tabi blinked with no small amount of shock. She’d never _once_  considered marrying anyone before going into Vault 111. Flings were part of her life back then, casual affairs that meant nothing. After this, though, after _Haylen_ , Tabi knew she wouldn’t have been satisfied going back to that life. And what was the biggest thing people did back in her time to show that? They married their significant other.

Tabi leaped up from her mattress, snatching her leather jacket up and heading for the dilapidated structure that had once been her house, for all of two weeks, before the bombs fell. She hadn’t even thought to check in the immediate aftermath of emerging from Vault 111 whether or not the safe under the bed was still present, but now her heart raced in her throat as she ducked quickly through the hallways, shoving the ruined bed frame aside. That safe had the jewelry her mother had given her, passed down through a few generations. Tabi hadn’t cared much for her family’s jewelry in the years leading up to the war–she had, in fact, forgotten its very existence until now, when she needed it.

As she pulled the flaking floor pieces away from the frame, she let out a great sigh of relief upon seeing the bulk of the safe, and tugging at the opening handle proved it hadn’t been picked open in the past 200 years. Of course, the key was long gone, but that would hardly stop Tabi now. She pulled her roughly-fashioned lockpicking tools and several bobby pins out of her jacket pocket, getting to work.

Two broken bobby pins later, the safe was open, and Tabi sifted through the jewelry within. Much of it couldn’t be salvaged–it had already been old when it was passed down to Tabi, and the passage of 200 years as well as countless radiation storms had done nothing to improve their condition.

Just when Tabi was about to give up, though, a dull flash caught her eye, and she reached back in, pulling out a necklace her grandmother had once bragged was platinum. It seemed she’d been right after all.

It was a simple pendant, a hoop of platinum no wider than a quarter with a chain that was only slightly knotted. Pocketing the pendant, Tabi jogged out, glanced at the sky, and determined that she’d reach the Cambridge station by mid-morning if she set out now.

It wasn’t until she was more than a third of the way there that a question demanded her attention: _what am I going to say?_

Movies always made marriage proposals seem easy and uncomplicated, even if Tabi knew that they were anything but. In her time, people would plan whole extravagant get-togethers for such an occasion, most of the time, at least. In the Commonwealth, Tabi had less opportunity for such luxuries, but she briefly wondered if she should plan this out more.

_I’ll think myself to death if I try to plan this to every detail. It’ll be fine._

She only wished she believed herself a bit more.

By the time the Cambridge station came into view, the sun was up and promised a ferociously hot day. In her power armor, Tabi was already beginning to sweat, though that could just as easily have been nerves as well as the sweltering heat.

She knew some of the knights had to have greeted her when she walked past–the sentinel markings on her suit were always noticeable–but Tabi wasn’t focused on them, making a stop by the garage to step out of her armor, platinum necklace clutched in a white-knuckle grip.

Her blood roared in her ears as she pushed the doors open, and she could feel the telltale heat in her neck and cheeks that meant she was already blushing up a storm. Haylen stood in the main area, clipboard in hand, and she turned. Her face brightened when she saw Tabi. “I was just thinking about you. Find that tech yet?”

Tabi couldn’t even register the question; she shook almost imperceptibly, she _knew_  her face was tomato-red, and she felt short of breath. Rather than reply to the question, Tabi held out the necklace in one hand and blurted out, rather inelegantly, “I want to marry you.”

Haylen blinked a few times with shock, and all the proceedings in the police station came to a sudden, silent halt. This was clearly not the answer to her tech-related question she was expecting. Tabi couldn’t say anything else in her current state; she swallowed thickly waiting for Haylen to say something. Finally, the scribe recovered and she asked, quietly and sincerely, “…you want to marry me?”

Tabi blinked, and she could feel the flood of babbling rising within her, but was powerless to stop it. She cleared her throat and spoke quickly, as though she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to say everything she thought she needed to all at once, “Well, yeah, I mean, of course I want to marry you, you’re really important to me and that’s the sort of thing that people who were important to each other back in my time did, but I guess they do it in this time too.” Tabi laughed nervously but couldn’t halt her waterfall of words. “Although I guess that’s also not to say I was the best example of normal people from my time, either, plus I didn’t even have a ring so I had to use this necklace instead, but that’s only if _you_ want to marry _me_ , which I guess I should have asked it inste–”

Haylen cut her off by approaching and taking the necklace from her hand, which stopped Tabi’s flow of words, and she pressed a kiss to Tabi’s cheek. “Of _course_  I want to marry you.”

There was a beat of silence, then applause broke out from everyone inside the station. Tabi was frozen for a moment before she leaned down and grabbed Haylen around the waist, raising her in the air before spinning them both around. She could feel tears on her cheeks but didn’t know whether they were hers or Haylen’s, and at the moment, didn’t particularly care.

Tabi had always searched for something worth hanging onto, in this world and the one before, and now she’d never have to let her go.


End file.
